A Longitudinal Study of Gross Body Composition and Body Conformation and Their Association with Food and Activity in a Teen-Age Population

Abstract

As one phase of a longitudinal study of gross body composition and body conformation of teenagers, a series of four questionnaires was administered to students, one each year, from the ninth to twelfth grades. The purpose was to investigate teenagers’ views on their own body size and shape, their eating practices and activities, and their interest and action in modifying any of these. The study evaluated questionnaire responses by sex, three racial groups (Caucasian, Negro and Oriental) and body fat classifications based on anthropometric determinations of lean body weight and body fat made each year. Some questions were repeated in another year to see if changes had occurred. Responses indicate that these teenagers had a high degree of interest in their body conformation which was sustained from the ninth through the twelfth grades, and that they were generally dissatisfied with their size and shape. Boys desired mainly to gain weight and/or size, girls to lose weight and reduce certain dimensions. Boys were more favorable to exercise for figure development, girls to diet. The majority of both sexes, all racial groups and all body fat groups (lean to obese) were willing, they said, to carry out action programs for figure change. Of those who had already changed their diet for weight reduction, few had succeeded in three years, and the remainder were as likely to have gained weight as to have lost it. Many of the teenagers revealed unrealistic views of their fatness or leanness, mainly Caucasian girls whose evaluation of their own excessive fatness differed considerably from their actual measurements. Racial differences were noted in concepts of ideal body size and shape, choice of diet, meal preference and types of activities favored. The information yielded will be valuable in planning and implementing a community program promoting weight control and physical fitness.